A conventional selective call receiver commonly receives a display message page comprising address information (i.e., for selecting the particular receiver) coupled with display message information. The display message information is typically presented to a user of the receiver via a display. One common form of display message information includes numeric characters, such as the numbers 1 thru 9, and 0. To enhance message readability, optional characters, such as a "blank space" character or a dash character (i.e., "-"), are embedded in the display message information. These characters are typically entered into a paging system by a caller, preferably using a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) telephone set. For example, an occurrence of an optional character within the display message information may coincide with a caller pushing the asterisk button (i.e.,"*") on the telephone set and a paging terminal sending the corresponding optional character. In this way, a user of the conventional selective call receiver is capable of receiving a numeric display message page.
A newer form of display message information includes alphanumeric characters. The alphanumeric characters (i.e., typically including most of the characters found on a conventional typewriter keyboard) allow significantly more information to be conveyed between the caller and the user of the selective call receiver. Because telephone sets normally constrain the display message information to numeric characters, the caller usually calls an answering service that enters the alphanumeric display message page into the paging system via a console directly connected to a paging terminal. However, this method of conveying the display message information lacks confidentiality. Further, the answering service can erroneously send their own interpretation of the message information, and not necessarily what was intended by the caller.
An alternative way to send the alphanumeric message is for the caller to enter the alphanumeric display message directly into the paging system. This normally requires the caller to be equipped with an alphanumeric page entry terminal. This entry device (e.g., the Motorola Page Entry Terminal) is capable of modem communication with a remotely located paging terminal via the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In this way, the caller can convey a full alphanumeric display message to the user of the selective call receiver. However, the caller may not always have access to a page entry terminal for sending the alphanumeric display message.
Regrettably, even when a caller has access to a page entry terminal, conventional paging system resources (e.g., available paging terminal memory, and paging channel throughput capacity) can significantly limit the message length allowed for the alphanumeric display message information. For example, in some paging systems a maximum of 40 alphanumeric characters are permitted in a display message page. This limitation can severely restrict the presentation of sufficient message information to effectively convey the message to the user.
Moreover, a conventional paging system normally may not have access to specific message information within a display message page, other than such attributes as the number of characters in a message or the type of characters allowed. The right to interpret the content of the display message information is usually reserved for the caller and for the user of the selective call receiver. For example, a caller may enter from a telephone set the display message information "555-1234 911" intended for a user of an alphanumeric display pager. The user then interprets the received numeric display message as "CALL JOHN SMITH AT HOME AT 212-555-1234 IMMEDIATELY!!". Hence, the conventional paging system normally is not capable of interpreting the display message entered by the caller and sending the alphanumeric display message to the user in its intended final form (i.e., defined for the particular user).
Furthermore, it is undesirable to maintain a centrally located paging terminal data base of user defined message information mapped to selective call display receivers in the paging system. First, due to security and privacy concerns, user defined message information (i.e., the interpretation of display message information) may best be stored at the individual selective call display receiver. Second, changing an interpretation of display message information (i.e., redefining the interpretation and presentation of display message information) would normally be easier and more convenient to perform locally at the selective call receiver rather than remotely at the paging terminal data base.
Thus, for all the reasons discussed above, it is regrettable that no conventional paging system or selective call receiver allows a user of the selective call receiver to define the interpretation and the presentation of message information by the selective call receiver.